Bread with legs

There is a new high-protein bread on the block; it’s a world first, and one of its main ingredients has legs – six of them to be exact.

Yes, we are talking about insects. It may seem odd and risky to some, but many signs suggest that insects will be a growing protein source of the future. With a recent launch and new legislation paving the way for bug-based foods, Finland has shown just how aware it is of the insect opportunity.

Innovative Finnish bakery and food service company Fazer – one of the Nordic region’s biggest food companies – decided to take the leap, and last week launched the world’s first commercial insect-based bread, just weeks after Finnish authorities gave the stamp of approval to insects as a commercial food ingredient. The use of insects is still illegal in Fazer’s other major market, Sweden, but the company hopes that this will change in the near future.

The bread contains 70 crickets per loaf, ground into “flour”, and is promoted as a good source of protein, fatty acids, calcium, iron and vitamin B12. According to Fazer “Finns are known to be experimental” and the bread is described by CEO Markus Hellström as “an easy way to get acquainted with the food of the future”.

The product, named Sirkkaleipä, is being rolled out in 11 mainstream supermarkets in the metropolitan area of Helsinki. The aim is to have the bread available in 47 outlets all over Finland soon, once a shortage of cricket flour has been overcome.

Fazer says it wants to create a “diet revolution”. Its cricket bread – which joins the company’s vegetable breads where up to 34% of the conventional flour is replaced with vegetables – suggests a forward-thinking, innovative company in touch with key trends in the market.

Now the question is: how many other companies will dare to jump on this bandwagon? Are consumers ready for a diet revolution as crunchy and challenging as this? Only time will tell.